4 days' mourning

If it weren't for my new best reading, Domina Grecia, I wouldn't have known and been able to alert my fellow ex-pat Kerkyravers of certain goings on.

First off, if some of my compatriots could be bothered to glance up from their pints of warm British beer, they'd notice that the The Most Blessed Archbishop of Athens and all Greece, Christodoulos, passed away early on the morning of January 28, 2008.

For those who rely on the Sun and News of the World for current affairs, I'm not too sure your rags will covered this in much detail: the old boy was suffering from metastatic cancer of the liver, even popped over to the U.S. in case the Big Guy had decreed success with a transplant. But no.

Loipon. Heads-up guys:

"Greece is in the midst of four days of national mourning.

On Thursday, with schools and all government offices closed [my emphases], the funeral liturgy will begin at 10 a.m.

After the liturgy, the coffin will be placed on a caisson escorted by troops from all three services. The funeral procession will follow downtown streets to the First Cemetery only a stone’s throw from the columns of the temple of Olympian Zeus.

See? We foreigners don't have the same bush telegraph and, with Wednesday being half-day shopping, it's highly likely that the entire British contingent will rise Thursday morning with vital chores entirely dependent on government services being operative.

Not readers of 'Corfucius' (or Dom Grec): we are on a higher branch of the grapevine.